Status: GBCVB Media Leads & Promotional Opportunities

Larry Meehan, Vice President, Media Relations & Tourism Sales, lmeehan@bostonusa.com; Stacy Shreffler, Media Relations & Tourism Sales Manager, direct line: 617-867-8203 / email: sshreffler@BostonUSA.com. Special 2008 Interns: Michelle Flores and Noel Moran, printern@bostonusa.com / 617-867-8233.

May 12, 2008 edition
 

We have developed this GBCVB “Status: Media Leads & Promotional Opportunities” click-to-view page to provide your organization with the most up-to-date status on media visits, tour operator FAMs, deadlines etc. Special thanks to our partners – the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism, MASSPORT, Massachusetts regional tourist councils, and Discover New England for our successful collaboration on many of the projects below.
 

Contents:

1. UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL MEDIA VISITS & FAM OPPORTUNITIES

·       UK market: North America Travel Services (NATS) Trade FAM, May 12-May 18, 2008

·       Paul Ewart (IQ, Dubai Fashion Magazine Editor) Boston Visit May 13-14, 2008

·       Japan market: Saita magazine for women : Dice K wife fashion shoot Boston May 27–June 1, 2008

·       French market: French media FAM May 30-June 1, 2008

·       UK market: Jetset Tour Operator FAM POSTPONED

2. RECENT MEDIA/TOUR OPERATOR VISITS

3. UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL MEDIA VISITS & FAM OPPORTUNITIES

For an extensive series of host arrangements we would like to recognize the Liberty Hotel Boston, the Millennium Bostonian Hotel, the InterContinental Boston Hotel, Charles Hotel, JFK Library and Museum, the Jurys Boston Hotel, Sage Restaurant, Union Oyster House, Henrietta's Table, DAATCO Coach company, Royal Sonesta Boston, all of the GBCVB VIP Pass attractions, Boston CityPass, the Go Boston Card, Old Town Trolley, Boston Duck Tours, Plimoth Plantation, IcelandAir, American Airlines, KLM Airlines, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, and many others.

In addition to seeking host hotels and discounted host hotel rates for a large number of international FAMs in the upcoming months, the GBCVB will seek host tour guides, restaurants directly to set up visits, tours and meals for the these individuals & groups. We appreciate your cooperation and continued support in helping the GBCVB and our partners to increase the number of international visitors to Boston.

-Larry Meehan & Stacy Shreffler

• North America Travel Services (NATS) Trade FAM, May 12-May 18, 2008
  Participants: The top 10 NATS travel agents and sales team members
  Market: UK
  Dates: Monday, May 12, 2008 and Tuesday, May 13, 2008
  
  The GBCVB is working with MOTT and Discover New England to host a North America Travel Services (NATS) Trade FAM, May 12-May 18, 2008. NATS was voted the “Best Specialist Tour Operator to the USA in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 & 2006” by the readers of the prestigious Selling Long Haul magazine, the UK and Ireland’s leading travel trade monthly. Please send offers to sshreffler@bostonusa.com.
  Client e mail/web site: www.northamericatravelservice.co.uk
   

• Paul Ewart (IQ, Dubai Fashion Magazine Editor) Boston Visit May 13-14, 2008

  Accommodations: The GBCVB is happy to announce that Paul will be staying at the InterContinental Boston. Thank you to everyone who offered host accommodations.

  Email: paul.ewart@engworldwide.com
  Market: Dubai/United Arab Emirates/International, Luxury-seeking audience
  Dates: May 13-14, 2008
  
  Paul Ewart will be in town to cover Puma’s big event in Boston next week, the christening of the Volvo Ocean Race boat; he is also planning a Boston feature for IQ Magazine,  the largest high end men’s title in the UAE, that will run in IQ’s 2nd issue on June 22, which is perfect timing for all the UAE residents wanting to escape the summer heat and plan a trip to Boston. Paul would also like to cover restaurants in the feature and plan a day trip to Salem, MA if time permits. Please send restaurant/accommodations/attractions offers directly to Paul at paul.ewart@engworldwide.com and please copy sshreffler@bostonusa.com.

   

  Publication information: www.engworldwide.com. The magazine has not launched on the website yet, but ENG Worldwide is established in TV, radio and outdoor media. Circulation is almost 30,000. Target readers are affluent professionals (20s to mid-40s) who have a strong interest in style, travel, fashion, culture and luxury.

   
• Japanese market: Saita magazine for women May 27–June 1, 2008. Saita is a Japanese consumer magazine geared to women. The magazine will be doing a fashion shoot using Daisuke Matsuzaka’s wife as a model. Market: Japan, Asia.
   

•  French market: French consumer newspapers/magazines & MOTT new French overseas representatives May 30 – June 1, 2008 The GBCVB is working with MOTT to host this French media visit that is seeking six rooms for two nights in Boston, May 30 & June 1, 2008 The media visit will be comprised of French journalists who cover a variety of niche publications and MOTT’s account managers. The GBCVB is working with MOTT on this project- please e mail offers to Vicki Cimino Victoria.Cimino@state.ma.us and cc sshreffler@bostonusa.com.
   

• Jetset Tour Operator Fam May 9-12, 2008

  Market: United Kingdom

  Dates: April 21-24, 2008

  Update: Is being postponed until June or July 2008.

  Client e mail/web site : www.jetset-holidays.co.uk  

  Please copy on correspondence : Stacy Shreffler sshreffler@bostonusa.com

RECENT MEDIA/TOUR OPERATOR VISITS

• Peter Matthews: CARA Aer Lingus inflight magazine Boston feature July 2008: May 7-11, 2008. Market: Ireland
   

• Brazilian Travel Agent FAM: Leading Hotels of the World, Sao Paulo Office, May 8-11, 2008 (10 people). Market: Brazil, South America
   

• Gerard Chel, Dutch Associated Press travel writer Boston Visit, May 5-8, 2008
  Market: Netherlands.
  Well-known Dutch travel writer, Gerard Chel, has been commissioned by the Dutch version of the Associated Press (called the GPD ) to write two features: Boston and Massachusetts for publication this summer or fall, 2008. The Boston & Massachusetts features will appear in  Het Belang Van Limburg, BN de Stem, Brabants Dagblad, Dagblad de Limburger, Dagblad van het  Noorden, Eindhovens Dagblad, Gazet Van Antwerpen, De Gelderlander, De Gooi-en Eemlander, Haarlems Dagblad, IJmuider Courant, Leeuwarder Courant, Leidsch Dagblad, Limburgs Dagblad, Nederlands Dagblad, Noordhollands Dagblad, HetParool, Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant, deStentor, De Twentsche Courant Tubantia. Host hotel is set (Liberty Hotel Boston).
   

• Kathleen Becker (SpeakUp, Spotlight magazine) and Zé Bruno Parrinha (Photographer), Boston Visit, May 7-May 9, 2008
  Market: Europe-wide (Italy, Spain, France, Hungary etc),  South America, Brazil 
   

• American Airlines UK Travel agency FAM May 11-14, 2008: 18-person UK travel agent fam, featuring top agents from the UK: Stella, Thomson Longhaul, TUI Flights Warehouse, First Choice, Flight Centre, Major Travel, USAirtours, Jetset, Thomas Cook Signature, Thomas Cook Retail, STA, Travelcare / Escape, NATS, Lotus, SHG (Dublin). www.americanairlines.co.uk    
   

• Roderick Field, photographer Food & Travel Magazine UK, Boston Visit May 11-18, 2008
   

• American Airlines France May 8-12, 2008: Winner Sylvie KINCH SCHWAB, travel agent from Carlson Wagonlit Voyages, France.
  As a result of the GBCVB & the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism (MOTT) working together with American Airlines France to promote the May 1, 2008 start of their daily Paris-Boston non-stop service  we have created a special promotion for American to attract French travel agencies and press. American Airlines France will immediately initiate a prize competition for a Boston, Massachusetts weekend to their entire French travel agent & travel trade database. The promotion  was featured in the AA France email to travel agents & travel trade and will remain on the American Airlines website www.americanairlines.fr until April 28, 2008. Click on “Agences de voyage from the home page www.americanairlines.fr or click here to view.
   

• Michelle Winner & Kiera Siva (Lavish Lifestyle Magazine, freelance writers) Boston Visit:  3 nights, May 10-13, 2008
  Market: US/Greater Phoenix Area. Email:  mailto:poidog@wildblue.net and copy sshreffler@bostonusa.com. 
  
  Publication Information: Lavish Magazine is based in Arizona, a relatively untapped regional market of interest for Boston. Lavish Luxury readers either live in or have second or third vacation homes in this golf-centric enclave of the Greater Phoenix Area. The advertisers are the usual suspects: plastic surgeons, Bentley dealers,  private jet companies, cigar and wine purveyors, high-end homes, spas, jewelry etc.. 
  Lavish Lifestyle Magazine: 230,000 readers per month. The average household income is 178K and they like to eat out and travel ( 83%).
  Media Kit available: www.thelavishlifestyle.com
   

• Alix Strauss, New York City –based freelance journalist Boston Visit April 30 –May 2, 2008

  Market: USA

  Dates: April 30-May 2, 2008

  Update: Alix will be hosted by the Liberty Hotel.
  
  Alix has been a featured lifestyle trend writer on national morning shows and talk shows including ABC, CBS, CNN and most recently, VH1. Her articles cover a range of topics, from beauty and food trends to celebrity interviews and have appeared in many magazines and newspapers including: The New York Times, The New York Post, The Daily News, Time Magazine, Men’s Health, Outside, Marie Claire and Self among others. Alix will be arriving in Boston on April 30, 2008 and checking out May 2. She is not on assignment but will be researching new properties for future articles.

  Client contact: For credentials please view her bio http://www.alixstrauss.com/alix_bio.html and http://www.sundaysalon.com/alix-strauss.htm. Please send offers and inquiries directly to Alix, AliStrauss@aol.com, and please copy sshreffler@bostonusa.com.

   

• Paul Wade & Kathy Arnold (The Daily Express), Boston Visit, April 21-24, 2008

  Market: United Kingdom

  Dates: April 21-24, 2008

  Update: Paul Wade & Kathy Arnold, prolific British travel writers , very familiar with Boston and New England, have been commissioned to write a Boston July 4th-Boston Harborfest feature for the UK national newspaper, The Daily Express. Host hotel is set.

  Client e mail: ka@teamwade.demon.co.uk

  Please copy on correspondence : Stacy Shreffler sshreffler@bostonusa.com

   

• Tom Dedek and  Frank Störbrauck , German tour/media April 22, 2008.
  Market: Germany/Gay
  Dates: April 22; return on April 25-27, 2008

  Update: We are happy to announce that Fifteen Beacon Hotel will host Tom Dedek and Frank Störbrauck on April 22, 2008. Special Thanks to Fifteen Beacon, Mooo, the Chandler Inn, Bin 26 Enoteca, Go Boston Card, Boston CityPass, Jury's Boston, Boston Duck Tours, Old Town Trolley.
  
  The GBCVB is working with MOTT to host a gay tour operator / journalists’ trip in late April. Two German gay media need host rooms April 22, 2008 preceding at visit to Provincetown:  Tom Dedek, Director of Public Relations of Tom on Tour, a travel Magazine for the Gay market in Germany and UK (circulation: 40,000; www.tomontour.de) and Frank Störbrauck, a freelance journalist writing for the leading gay magazines in the German market. Hotel (15 Beacon ) is set. On their return to Boston, they will be hosted at the newly renovated Chandler Inn. They are touring Boston & Provincetown for upcoming feature.

   

• Sean Conneely, American Profile, Boston Visit April 16-18, 2008

  Market: USA (inserted into newspapers throughout US)  

  Dates: April 16-18, 2008

  Update: Colorado-based Conneely is writing for an upcoming issue of  American Profile magazine which circulates within community newspapers nationwide and is syndicated nationally with a circulation of 9 million. Sean writes about Massachusetts often.  Sean has writes for the St. Petersburg Times, Home & Away Magazine, and newspapers distributed in the Western US.

  Client e mail: N/A (copy of recent feature: http://www.americanprofile.com/spotlights/article/23795.html.Please copy on correspondence : Kristen Raymaakers (Account Executive at MOTT’s Marketing & PR firm) at kraymaakers@mullen.com and Stacy, sshreffler@bostonusa.com.

• Claire Hamilton (WGSN, www.wgsn.com/, Boston City Guide) April 14-17 2008: Claire is coming to Boston to update and expand the Boston City Guide for WGSN. Her colleague in London, Lindsey Dupler previously worked on the WGSN Boston guide and stayed at the Nine Zero. In the existing guide, several hotels are already featured, so Clare would like to focus on new hotels. Her primary focus will be hip new design hotels, boutique shopping and atmospheric restaurants, as she is writing for fashion industry readers. She’s curious about up-and-coming neighborhoods and new urban development.
   

• Dave Lewis and crew - Canadian Men's Magazine Boston Visit April 11-13, 2008. Canadian Men's Magazine is a new monthly magazine (200,000 issues a month will be published in the first year) debuting late April 2008 nationwide (Canada). A big feature on Boston will appear in the debut issue. The magazine’s vision is to be along the same lines as "Men's Health" magazine in the United States, but geared towards interests of the Canadian Male, targeting men age 25-55. Award-winning journalists will write about family, relationships, sports, tourism, technology, fashion and business in a uniquely Canadian way. Launching simultaneously will be Canadian Men's TV on Global. The magazine’s partnership with CanWest Global Communications has allowed them to release a weekly television show discussing topics from the magazine with reports from across North America.
  
  Each issue will dedicate 5 to 8 pages on a tourism destination with Boston chosen as the first destination. Dave would like to include information on Boston accommodations, culture specific to Boston, sports teams, restaurants and night life. They would like to experience many things as locals and do not expect to be treated as VIPs, but they would greatly appreciate any story ideas or discounts members of the GBCVB can provide in exchange for coverage in the Boston feature (host hotel will definitely be featured). They already have Red Sox-Yankees tickets and Celtics tickets, so they are in good shape. Please send questions, information and offers directly to Dave Lewis at canadian.mens.mag@gmail.com and please copy Stacy at sshreffler@bostonusa.com.
   

• Allen Gander (Main Street Tours) Post-National Tour Association (NTA) 2008 Tour Operator Spring Meet Boston Visit, April 5, 2008. Thank you to Lauren Creamer, Sales Manager at the Radisson Boston for offering a Special post-NTA Tour Operator Rate. Thank you also to Jack Simonds at Howard Johnson Fenway and Michael Lamphear at the Milner Hotel.
   

• Caroline Tapp-McDougall, Editor (Homefront) Boston Visit March 21-23, 2008, sarah@bcsgroup.com
   

• Heather Greenwood Davis (Toronto Star/Lexpert Magazine, www.lexpert.ca/magazine), Boston Visit: March 9-March 16, 2008, heather@greenwooddavis.com
   

• Spanish Press Opportunity: Sònia Graupera, March 15-17, 2008, sgraupera@firabcn.es. Ever since Iberia airlines commenced non-stop flights to Logan Airport from Madrid, a new wave of Spanish visitors have been arriving in Boston. However, this market has been underserved in comparison to the UK, Germany, Italy, France and the Netherlands.
   

• Melanie Zhang (SINA.com SINA Travel), March 12-14, 2008, melaniec@sstrips.com. About SINA (www.sina.com) and SINA Travel (travel.sina.com): SINA is a leading internet media company for Chinese communities worldwide, offering a full array of Chinese-language news, entertainment, financial information, lifestyle and travel information and services.
   

• Anna Ross Twichell (The Preservation Channel), March 11-14, 2008, annaross@thepreservationchannel.com
  THANK YOU:
  Anna Ross Twichell, Executive Director of The Preservation Channel, who was recently hosted by several GBCVB members, has reported, “The hospitality we received in Boston was phenomenal!”  Special thanks to everyone who signed on to host Anna and her crew: The Liberty Hotel, Jim Solomon of The Fireplace, Joe Milano, Jean Hayes, and the staff at the Union Oyster House. Anna attested that “The food in all three restaurants was exceptional as was the service. I feel as though we made friends in each location....Boston is Hospitality at its Best!”
  
  The Preservation Channel will be airing all of the pieces on The Preservation Channel, Travel TV 247 , and some will be on Choosing Green. Later in the season TPC will add all of the food segments to their new food channel.

3. ONGOING PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES:

·         GBCVB Holiday Season 2008 Promotion: Seeking events & images for international promotion.
The GBCVB Media & Tourism department needs to add Holiday events & images for our international promotion of Boston as an ideal holiday season (and beyond) CityBreak for British, Irish & European tour operators and media. As a result of promotion by email and personally at World Travel Mart, the MOTT UK Sales Mission, the Discover New England International Summit last week we are now receiving solid interest by tour planners who intend to market Christmas Breaks in Boston -- and we need to support the promotion with new images and events.

The basic promotion that we will build on is as follows:

Boston 2008 Holiday Season begins with the Boston Christmas Festival at the World Trade Center and the 49th Ellis Antiques Show Boston Park Plaza Castle, November 1-2; the Faneuil Hall Lighting Ceremony, November 15; Merry Tuba Christmas, Faneuil Hall, November 29; the Boston Common Holiday Lighting, December 2; the Boston Ballet Nutcracker nightly performances starting on November 28; the 34th Holiday Pops at Boston Symphony December 8 - 31, 2008 and FIRST NIGHT 2009 on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008.

Boston’s 5-month Shopping Season 2008 begins on Friday November 28, 2008 (Super Friday-the day after the American Thanksgiving Day) when shops extend their hours from early morning to late-night through New Year's Day 2009. Sales continue through March 29, 2009 with major shopping sales during the Dec 26-Dec. 31 period; the Martin Luther King, Jr. Weekend Jan. 16-19; Valentine's Weekend Weekend Feb. 13-16; Presidents/School Vacation Week Feb. 16-22,: St. Patrick's Weekend March 13-15-17, 2009.

Please send information and images to sshreffler@bostonusa.com. Photos will be for web promotion on BostonUSA.com.  However, if you have high resolution images you would like to make available to media and international tour operators (we receive many inquiries), please send high-res images (and copyright info) to sshreffler@bostonusa.com. Or send sample thumbnails and Stacy will pass them along with your contact information on to interested parties.
 

• GBCVB Culinary 2008-2009 Promotion: Seeking events & images for international promotion. As part of our international promotion of Boston as an ideal culinary destination and CityBreak for British, Irish & European tour operators & media, the GBCVB Media & Tourism department needs to add  events and images to our very popular Culinary page. As a result of promotion by email and personally at World Travel Mart, the MOTT UK Sales Mission, the Discover New England International Summit last week we are now receiving solid interest by tour planners who intend to market food events in Boston & Cambridge --and we need to support the promotion with new images and events. GBCVB Meehan will be speaking this Monday-Tuesday at the International Culinary Tourism Symposium about our current program - please click to view: Culinary Events & Tours.
  
  Please send information & images to sshreffler@bostonusa.com. We prefer ongoing, regularly scheduled, or *very special* culinary events for this page. In order to promote your event on this special page, we will need to receive notice of the event and images at least one month prior to the start date. Otherwise, your listing will be included on a new culinary calendar that will be coming soon to compliment this page. Please click to view: Culinary Events & Tours.
  
   

• GBCVB Summer 2008 Boston Chowderfest July 6, 2008: Seeking additional restaurants to participate: The highly successful Boston Chowderfest (Sunday July 6, 2008) is seeking additional Boston area restaurants to participate in the event. They provide a $2,000 stipend to help underwrite the cost of producing the chowder. Call Susan Park at 617-227-1528 or email Susan Park festival@bostonharborfest.com.